Skip to main content
Original Article

Does Ego-Resilience Impact Friendship Outcomes?

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000197

Abstract. The present study examined the relationship between resilience and positive outcomes in friendships of young adults. SEM and bootstrapping analyses were performed to test whether positive emotions mediate the relationship between ego-resilience and enhanced friendship outcomes. Findings revealed indirect effects for friendship closeness, maintenance behaviors, and received social support. Our findings demonstrate the importance of positive emotions and its connection with trait resilience in the realm of friendships.

References

  • Affleck, G. & Tennen, H. (1996). Construing benefits from adversity: Adaptational significance and dispositional underpinnings. Journal of Personality, 64, 899–922. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Alessandri, G., Vecchio, G., Steca, P., Caprara, M. G. & Caprara, G. V. (2008). A revised version of Kremen and Block’s ego resiliency scale in an Italian sample. Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 14, 1–19. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Alessandri, G., Vecchioni, M., Caprara, G. & Letzring, T. D. (2012). The Ego Resilience Scale revised: A cross-cultural study in Italy, Spain, and the United States. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 28, 139–146. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000102 First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Aron, A. & Aron, E. N. (1986). Love as expansion of the self: Understanding attraction and satisfaction. New York, NY: Hemisphere. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Barrera, M. B., Sandler, I. N. & Ramsay, T. B. (1981). Preliminary development of a scale of social support: Studies on college students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 435–447. doi: 10.1007/BF00918174 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Berry, D. S., Willingham, J. K. & Thayer, C. A. (2000). Affect and personality as predictors of conflict and closeness in young adults’ friendships. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 84–107. doi: 10.1006/jrpe.1999.2271 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Binder, J. F., Roberts, S. G. & Sutcliffe, A. G. (2011). Closeness, loneliness, support: Core ties and significant ties in personal communities. Social Networks, 34, 206–214. doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2011.12.001 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Block, J. H. & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. CollinsEd., Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39–101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Cutrona, C. E. & Russell, D. W. (1987). The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. Advances in Personal Relationships, 1, 37–67. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fehr, B. (1996). Friendship processes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden- and-build theory of positive emotions. The American Psychologist, 56, 218–226. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Friborg, O., Hjemdal, O., Martinussen, M. & Rosenvinge, J. (2009). Empirical support for resilience as more than the counterpart and absence of vulnerability and symptoms of mental disorder. Journal of Individual Differences, 30, 138–151. doi: 10.1027/1614-0001.30.3.138 First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Kelley, H. H.Berscheid, E.Christensen, A.Harvey, J. H.Huston, T. L.Levinger, G.Peterson, D. R.Eds.. (1983). Close relationships. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman & Company. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Klohnen, E. C. (1996). Conceptual analysis and measurement of the construct of ego-resiliency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1067–1079. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.70.5.1067 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Letzring, T. D., Block, J. & Funder, D. C. (2005). Ego-control and ego-resiliency: Generalization of self-report scales based on personality descriptions from acquaintances, clinicians, and the self. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 395–422. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2004.06.003 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Little, R. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202. doi: 10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Liu, Y., Wang, Z. & Lü, W. (2013). Resilience and affect balance as mediators between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 850–855. doi: 10.1016/j.2012.12.010 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Maddi, S. R. (2005). On hardiness and other pathways to resilience. The American Psychologist, 60, 261–262. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Magyar-Moe, J. L. (2013). Positive psychology and mental health. In M. HojjatD. CramerEds., Positive Psychology of Love (pp. 177–189). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Majors, K. (2012). Friendships: The power of positive alliance. In S. RoffeyEd., Positive Relationships: Evidence based practice across the world (pp. 127–144). New York, NY: Springer. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Marmo, J. & Canary, D. J. (2013). Connecting happiness to relational maintenance: Understanding the importance of fairness. In M. HojjatD. CramerEds., Positive Psychology of Love (pp. 203–217). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ong, A. D., Bergeman, C. S. & Bisconti, T. L. (2004). The role of daily positive emotions during conjugal bereavement. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59, P168–P176. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Oswald, D. L. & Clark, E. M. (2006). How do friendship maintenance behaviors and problem-solving styles function at the individual and dyad levels? Personal Relationships, 13, 333–348. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2006.00121.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Oswald, D. L., Clark, E. M. & Kelly, C. M. (2004). Friendship maintenance: An analysis of individual and dyad behaviors. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 413–441. doi: 10.1521/jscp.23.3.413.35460 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Preacher, K. J. & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 36, 717–731. doi: 10.3758/BF03206553 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Ramsey, M. A. & Gentzler, A. L. (2015). An upward spiral: Bidirectional associations Between positive affect and positive aspects of close relationships across the life span. Developmental Review, 36, 58–104. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2015.01.003 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Schneider, T. R., Lyons, J. B. & Khazon, S. (2013). Emotional intelligence and resilience. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 909–914. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.460 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Shiota, M. N., Campos, B., Keltner, D. & Hertenstein, M. J. (2004). Positive emotion and the regulation of interpersonal relationships. In P. PhilippotR. S. FeldmanEds., The Regulation of Emotion (pp. 127–155). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Smith, B. W., Tooley, E. M., Christopher, P. J. & Kay, V. S. (2010). Resilience as the ability to bounce back from stress: A neglected personal resource? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 166–176. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2010.482186 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Tugade, M. M. & Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 320–333. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.320 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Tugade, M. M., Fredrickson, B. L. & Feldman Barrett, L. (2004). Psychological resilience and positive emotional granularity: Examining the benefits of positive emotions on coping and health. Journal of Personality, 72, 1161–1190. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00294.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A. & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Waugh, C. E. & Fredrickson, B. L. (2006). Nice to know you: Positive emotions, self-other overlap, and complex understanding in the formation of a new relationship. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 93–106. doi: 10.1080/17439760500510569 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Weiner, A. S. B. & Hannum, J. W. (2012). Differences in the quantity of social support between geographically close and long-distance friendships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30, 662–672. doi: 10.1177/0265407512465997 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar